Method of making pile fabric



Dec. 15, 1936. F. M. KAuFMAN METHOD OF MAKING PILE FABRIC Filed April 28, 1933 Patented Dec. 15, 1936 UNITED STATES METHOD F MAKING PILE FABRIC Frank M. Kaufman, Merlon, Pa., asaignor to Collins & Aikman Corporation, Philadelphia, Pa., a corporation o! Delaware Application April 28, 1933, Serial No. 868,300

3 Claims.

My invention is a fast pile fabric having a ground or back with which pile loops or tufts of unequal length or height are interlaced toA form an uneven face, and the method of weaving vsuch fabrics on the double plush principle so as to be self-separating, excepting at the selvages where. the several fabrics may be readily cut apart.

In fabric embodying my invention', the ground of back contains wefts with which pile warps are interlaced so that each pile warp weaves in the ground under a ground weft, then over one or more ground wefts, and then under a ground weft before being projected from the ground and over a face weft to form a short face loop or a long face loop. Preferably the pile warps interlaced in a ground are groupedk so as to form alternately a row of short loops and a row of long loops. The warps forming a row of short loops interlace in the ground or back during the weaving of other pile warps to form an adjacent row of long loops, a row of short loops, and a second row of long loops. The warps forming the rst row of long loops interlace in the ground or back during the weaving of the second named row of short loops, the second named row of long loops, and a repeat of the first row of short loops, and so on. The pile warps are preferably looped in the form of Ws to form a row of pile loops on every pick of the ground, and the long and short loops may be supported by face wefts, which may, however, be removed after weaving. The loops may be left uncut to form a frieze type fabric or may be cut to form cut fast pile tufts of unequal lengths.

Such fabrics may be woven double, in accordance with my invention, upon a loom having three sets of pile loop gauges, such as wires or cords extending warpwise of the loom; one set of gauges being disposed in a substantially horizontal plane between the other two sets of gauges. The intermediate set of gauges supports and aids in the formation of long loops of both a top fabric and a bottom fabric. The upper set of gauges supports and aids in the formation of short loops for the top fabric, and the lower set of gauges supports and aids in the formation of short loops for the bottom fabric. Preferably, a double shuttle loom is utilized in weaving the fabrics double and pairs of wefts are laid simultaneously, but a single shuttle loom may be employed. After the wefts have been beaten up by the movements of the lay, the face picks supporting the pile loops lie approximately above the respective ground picks above which respective rows of pile loops lie.

The characteristic features and advantages of my invention will furtherfappear from the following description and the accompanying drawing illustrating diagrammaticallythe relationship of the threads in the weaving of fabric in ac- 5 cordance with my invention.

In the drawing, Fig.y 1 is a diagrammatic representation of arepeat of 'a' fabric showing the arrangements of the threads as they are positioned by the harnesses and shuttles in the production of fabric in accordance with `my invention; Fig. 2 is a graph showing the positions of the various warp threads during the laying of each pair of picks, and Fig. 3"is a diagrammatic view showing the positions of the threads after the beating up of the wefts, but while the repeat is still supported on the gauges.V

As illustrated inthe drawing, the fabrics are woven in duplicate on a double shuttle loom having a set of upper gauge wires A supported attheir right hand end by the shedding mechanism of the loom, ra set of lower gaugel wires B supported at their right hand end by the shedding mechanism of the loom, anda set of stationary gauge wires C disposed in a horizontal plane between the sets A and B, the gaugesV projecting warpwise of the loom and through the dents of the reed. f

By the operation of such mechanism in accordance with the method of my invention, there may be produced a top fabric anda bottom fabric each having alternate rows ofv long' and short pileA loops projecting from the respective grounds or backings .of the fabrics, and such fabrics separate from one another as they weave oif the left handfree ends of the gauges A, B, and C toward the left. lThe weft threads connecting the selvages of the upper and lower fabrics are cut by suitable cutters as they are moved along by the rotation of the pinvrollers of the loom.

'I'he weaving of the top fabricv involves the shedding of the pile warps A, A, A, A* and the ground warps A and A. The weaving of the bottom fabric involves the shedding of the pile warps B, B, B and B and the ground warps B and B. In weaving the fabricsv on a double shuttle loom, pairs of picks are simultaneously laid one above the other, and both picks of a pair are incorporated in one fabric or the other when long pile loops are being formed and one pick of a pair is laid in each fabric when short pile loops are being formed.

'Ihe pairs of picks are laid in a cycle, in which it may be considered one pick of the rst pair forms a ground weft and the other pick of the lu pair forms a face weft supporting a row of long pile loops of the top fabric. One pick of the second pair forms a ground pick and the other pick of the second pair supports a row of long pile loops of the lower fabric. One pick of the third pair forms a ground pick of the top fabric and the other pick of the third pair forms a ground pick of the lower fabric. One pick of the fourth pair forms a face pick supporting a row of loops of the top fabric and the other pick of the fourth pair forms a face pick supporting a row of short loops of the bottom fabric. The picks of the succeeding pairs constitute a repeat of the cycle described but the picks acting as face picks in the next succeeding cycle or repeat support loops formed from pile warps which were being woven into the ground during the first cycle or repeat.

At the beginning of the weaving of the fragmentary section shown in the drawing, and considering the cycle beginning at the left hand end of Figs. 1 and 3, the shedding mechanism elevates the backing warp A5, the short loop warps A and A; moves to intermediate position the high loop warps A and the gauge wires A; and depresses the gauge wire B, the high loop warps A1, B1, B, the low loop warps B1, B, and the backing warps A, B"l and B. The first pair of picks IA and IB are then laid. The pick IA is interlaced between the pile warp A and ground warp A and the pile warps A1, A and ground warp A". The pick IB is supported against the gauges C and supports al row of long loops formed by the pile warps A1.

During or after the beat up of the picks IA- and IB, the shedding mechanisms are operated so as to lift to upper position the harnesses carrying the backing warps A5 and B5, the long loop warps A1, A2 and B1 and the gauges A and to move to intermediateposition the harnesses carrying the long loop warps B2 and the gauges B. The remaining harnesses continue to hold the warps in their previous positions,.and the shuttles lay the complementary pair of wefts 2A and 2B. The weft or pick 2A is supported by the gauges C and supports a row of long loops formed from the pile warps B1 of the lower fabric. The weft or pick 2B is interlaced in the ground of the lower fabric between the pile warp B and ground warp B1 on one side and the pile warps B1 and B and the ground warp B5 on the other side.

During or after the beat up of the second pair of picks, the shedding mechanisms are operated so as to elevate the harnesses carrying the backing warps B; to move to intermediate position the harnesses carrying the short loop warps A', A4, B3, B4 and thegauges A and B; and to move to their lowermost positions the harnesses carrying the ground warps A and B, the long loop warps B1 and B; leaving the remaining harnesses to position the rest of the warps as they previously were. When the complementary pair of picks 3A and 3B are laid the pick 3A is interlaced in the ground of the top fabric with the warps A floating over' it and the pick 3B is interlaced in the ground of the bottom fabric with the pile warps B floating over it.

During or after the laying of the third pair of picks, the shedding mechanisms are operated so as to elevate to their upper positions the harnesses carrying the ground warps A, the long loop warps A, thegauges A, and so as to depress to their lower positions the harnesses carrying the ground warps B, short loop warps B and gauges B, leaving the remaining harnesses to maintain the rest of the warps as they previously were.

When the fourth pair of picks 4A and 4B are laid the pick 4A engages the gauges A and supports the floating warps A to form a row of short pile loops on the top fabric. The pick 4B engages the gauges B and supports the floating warps B' to form a row of short pile loops on the bottom fabric. When these picks are beaten up they lie between and substantially in alignment with the previously laid p'icks 3A and 3B. Each ground pick in each ground has a row of long loops or a row of short loops floated over it and each row of loops is supported by a face pick.

During the formation of the rows of loops from the pile warps A1 and A on the top fabric, the

, pile warps A and A have woven in the ground of the top fabric. And during the formation of the rows of pile loops on the bottom fabric from the pile warps B1 and B', the pile warps B1 and B are woven in the ground of the bottom fabric. In the succeeding cycle, however, the pile warps A1 and A1 weave in the ground of the top fabric and the pile warps A and A form respectively rows of long loops and of short loops thereon. The pile warps B1 and B1 weave in the ground of the bottom fabric during such succeeding cycle, and the pile wai-ps B and B* form respectively rows of long loops and rows of short loops on the bottom fabric. The shedding required to effect this Will be readily understood from the graph. I

From the graph it will -be seen that for laying the picks 5A and 5B to form a row of long loops on the top fabric from the pile warps A2 the shedding mechanism is so operated that the harnesses carrying the warps A5, A4, A3 are up, the

' harnesses carrying the warps A1 and gauges A are in intermediate position, and the harnesses carrying the warps B5, A5, B5, B4, B3, A2, B2, B1 and gauges B are down.

For laying the sixth pair of picks, 6A and 6B, to form a row of long loops on the bottom fabric the shedding mechanism is operated so that the harnesses are up which carry the. warps A5, A5, B5, A4, A2, A2, B2, A1 and gauges A; the harnesses are in intermediate position which carry the warps B1, B1 and gauges B; and the harnesses are down which carry the warps B5 and B For laying the wefts 1A and 'IB to provide a ground pick in each of the top fabric and the bottom fabric the shedding mechanisms position in the upper position the harnesses carrying the warps B5' A, A2, and A1 position in the intermediate position the harnesses carrying the warps A4, B4, A3 and the gauges A and B; and position in the down position the harnesses carrying the warps A5, B5, B2, B2 and B1.

For laying the picks 8A and 8B to provide face picks for supporting a row of pile loops formed from the warps A4 on the upper fabric and for supporting a row of short loops formed from the pile warps B4 on the bottom fabric, the shedding mechanism isv operated to position in the upper position the harnesses carrying the warps A5, A5, A3, A2 and A1 and the gauges A; to position in intermediate position the harnesses carrying the warps A4 and B 4 and to position in their lower position the harnesses carrying the warps B5. B5, B2, B2, B1 and the gauges B.

By appropriate cutting of selected groups of warps or by the use of a jacquard for controlling the colors or threads in a warp loop, many novel effects may be produced.

Having described my invention, I claim: 1. The method of weaving pile fabric on a double shuttle loom in which the shuttles are thrown simultaneously, face to face, which comprises weaving an upper and a lower ground fabric over and under respectively, three vertically spaced sets of pile loop gauges/extending warp-wise and having free endsbetween the grounds, the upper and lower sets of pile loop gauges being shedded and intermediate pile loop gauges being stationary; forming simultaneously, separate short pile face loops over weft picks laid against the shedded pile loop gauges and forming sequentially long pile face loops over weft picks laid against the intermediate stationary gauges, the long pile loops being formed in staggered and warpwise overlapping relationship with the intermediate gauges and supported by picks on the opposite side of said gauges from the ground fabric in which said loops are bound; and so forming automatically separating pile structures composed of face loops of` different heights as the fabrics weave off the free ends of the gauges.

2. The method of weaving pile fabric, on a double shuttle loom in which the shuttles are simultaneously thrown, face to face, which comprises weaving an upper and a lower "ground fabric over and under respectively, three vertically spaced sets of pileloop gauges extending warpwise and having free ends between the grounds, the upper and lower sets of pile loop gauges being shedded and the intermediate pile loop gauges being stationary; forming separate short pile face loops over weft picks laid against the shedded pile loop gauges and forming long pile face loops over weft picks laid against the intermediate stationary gauges, the long pile loops being formed in staggered and overlapping relationship with the intermediate gauges and supported by weft picks on the opposite sides of said gauges from the ground fabric in which said loops are bound; and. so forming automatically separating pile structures composed of face loops of different heights as the fabrics weave ofi' the free ends of said gauges.

3. The method of weaving pile fabric, on a double shuttle loom in which the shuttles are simultaneously thrown, face to face, which comprises weaving an upper and lower ground fabric over and under respectively, three vertically spaced sets of pile loop gauges extending warpwise and having free ends between the grounds, the upper and lower sets of pile loop gauges being shedded and the intermediate pile loop gauges being stationary; forming separate short pile face loops over weft picks laid against the sheddedl pile loop gauges and forming long pile face loops over weft picks laid against the intermediate gauges, the long pile loops of the two fabrics vbeing formed over different wefts and in warp- FRANKM. 

